


To Love and Love Again

by Creativityx



Category: Warrior Nun (TV)
Genre: Both coming back to one another, F/F, Reincarnation Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:34:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27450550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Creativityx/pseuds/Creativityx
Summary: Shannon dies in the same way as her original fight. Ava is brought back to life by the halo and yet? Shannon isn’t gone, she fills Ava’s moments both waking and asleep. Soulmates were never meant to live without the other, reincarnating through their love. They were bound to be returned to each other.
Relationships: Shannon Masters/Ava Silva
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	To Love and Love Again

Neither had lived long enough to meet each other in their first lives, cut short by the paths of fate, achingly carved into their lives.  _ You were never supposed to live and die without meeting your soulmate, how could one reincarnate if they had nothing to latch onto in the next life? _

Ava remembered the stories of soulmates, the clearest line of thought driven deep, ‘In this life and the next, we will love and love again.’

She had lived by those words, given to her by her parents, wanting, needing something more than she was. 

_ The aching and longing for the one she hadn’t met was always there. _

Yet?  _ She only had her childhood to truly live in wonder of a soulmate,  _ her path losing clarity after the accident  _ after she had become bound to the church, the church who didn’t even see her true pains. _

In those years she lay unmoving in that bed all she could do was think of her soulmate. _She had no face in her mind, no memory of a gentle past, this was her first life she was sure of it,_ _all she had was yearning._

Diego quickly became her anchor, her strength. When she couldn’t move he was there to move for her, to live in those little moments,  _ to provide her hope that no matter who she becomes, her soulmate would want her. _

So, she lay there, she spoke, she watched TV, she listened to those around her and wondered how on earth her soulmate would find her here.

_ She wasn’t expecting to die. _

It was the same as every night, the sisters surrounding her, offering her care,  _ if they could call this care,  _ and she went to sleep.

When she woke up? It wasn’t in that bed it was her  _ lying flat on a table,  _ she shouldn’t have been able to move, shouldn’t have been able to feel that pain in her back  _ but she did, she could, she was alive.  _

She heard the shouting, the way it filled the room as she left,  _ the anger there,  _ they were all looking for something, the halo, she had no idea what that was.

_ So she runs. She couldn’t remember the last time she ran but at this moment? It had never felt more natural. _

She kept running until there wasn’t anywhere left to run, blindly leaping into that pool, her _ only thought being wonder at the fact that she could. _

_ Wow. She can’t swim.  _ She struggles, she thinks she hears a voice,  _ a woman?  _ Begging her to swim to the edge to try to get out. In the end, it’s a boy, JC, who saves her instead.

‘Wasn’t expecting to drag a girl out of a pool today but here we are,’ he spoke once they were both out.

‘I didn’t need your help, you know?’ Ava huffed out, shaking out her arms,  _ god she was soaked. _

‘Hey, I helped you, you were splashing and sinking,’ the boy responded with his hands in the air.

‘Thanks,  _ I guess,’  _ Ava returned knowing that she couldn’t swim,  _ remembering that strange… voice? Feeling? That begged her to get out. _

Ava just wrung some water out of her shirt as she spoke, ‘I don’t even know your name.’

‘JC,’ he grinned, offering a hand.

‘Ava.’ She didn’t take that hand but he seemed more than happy to ignore it and continue the conversation.

‘Running like that and jumping into the pool, something you’re hiding from, Ava?’ JC asked, eyeing her off like he was looking for something more. 

‘And If I was,  _ you know,  _ technically, possibly, running from something?’ 

‘Then join the club, we’ve all got something that brought us together,’ JC let out, looking towards the group of people that slowly filtered out towards the pool.

’What’s the club?’ Ava returned, keeping her distance.  _ She could run now if she had to run, she would. _

’The club where, for once, we’re just  _ free _ , no past, only our present and the future to come, what do you say?’ JC returned, holding out his hand if offered.

‘Just for a little while? I’m  _ looking for someone.’ _

‘Don’t we all? Soulmate huh?’ JC hummed,  _ god was this boy observant. _

_ ‘And if it is?’ _

‘I won’t judge. We’re all looking for that person you know, first life, 10th life, it’s a  _ need  _ that never fades. But, there’s comfort in being a part of a group like this.’

‘I can work with that,’ Ava agreed and with that, she took his hand and gave it a shake.  _ She could do this.  _ Friendship. Just for a little while.

That night the last thing she wanted was to sleep, so, she started off with a shower,  _ in that mirror she saw it,  _ a mark in the shape of a perfect circle.

_ She didn’t want to believe it but? She couldn’t deny the truth, reasoning for why she suddenly had the voice of a woman whispering in her mind.  _

Not a soulmate, just… someone she had taken power from.  _ God did she wish that voice was her soulmate. _

She didn’t want to fall asleep but in a comfortable bed,  _ being able to feel the comfort of a bed,  _ she did.

The dreams flooded her mind without any relent.  _ Her. Her. Her.  _ Until suddenly, she became a person, no longer a voice but someone real, physical, here,  _ as real as one could be in your mind. _

‘Who are you?’ Ava called out to the woman, her back turned. The woman turned and  _ Ava felt a shift. _

‘Shannon, my name is Shannon,’ the woman spoke, her voice beginning to falter as she took in Ava.

‘I’m Ava,’ Ava returned a feeling of awe settling over her.  _ She had never felt something so strong, so raw, then what she was feeling just looking at her. _

’Strange,’ Shannon spoke, starting to draw closer to Ava, before, in a moment neither could explain, she placed a hand upon Ava.

_ Ava couldn’t deny the way that hand set her body alight like she could find answers in Shannon’s touch, her voice, her existence. _

‘You’re my soulmate,’ Shannon continued her voice beginning to crack.

Ava reached up, grasping a hand in her own, trying to soothe her, soothe the one she was made to love in this life and all her lives to come.

‘You’re my soulmate and I’m not even  _ alive  _ to love you.’

Ava tightened her hold on the other woman’s hand desperately at those words, ‘If you’re not alive how could I be touching you?’

‘Perhaps… I am just a figment leftover from the halo’s transference to you,  _ I might just fade over time, a distant memory.’ _

Ava shook her head, feeling tears begin to well, ‘No, we’ve only just met, I’m supposed to meet you, you’re not supposed to live a life without your soulmate.’

Ava felt herself be pulled into Shannon's arms, the soft touch of lips against her forehead.  _ She had never felt so… fulfilled. No, truly, she had never felt more alive in years than she did when she was in the other girl’s embrace. _

‘What if I am gone?’ Shannon sighed against her.

Ava could only wrap her arms around the taller girl’s waist in response, ‘I would take it, I would take this feeling and keep it forever, but,  _ how can a soulmate, this feeling, ever be fake?’ _

Shannon hummed, running her hands along Ava’s side, ’Then so be it, perhaps we will only be able to hold these dreams,  _ perhaps we find reality together,  _ no matter, I would still take this love and hold it close for the lover I have yet to meet.’

Ava was ready to interrupt,  _ afraid of what it meant to wake,  _ but it was Shannon who continued, halting her thoughts with a painful reality.

‘Do not forget the power that lays between your shoulder blades,  _ you are the halo bearer,  _ as I was, I exist as  _ proof  _ of the halo’s fallibility.’ 

Shannon paused for a moment, ‘You must remember the mission I had failed on, for as long as you are the bearer, you are also their guide, their beacon of hope.’

Ava let out a startled laugh at that, her tears still running freely, ‘The mission, this halo seems to have taken you away from life, why would I want to continue that?’

‘The halo also brought you back, to them,  _ to me _ .’

Ava watched as Shannon drew away, her face tightening, ‘ _ I don’t know if I am real…  _ but, if I am, the halo has brought the rest of my aching soul into completion.’

The desperate sound Shannon let out left Ava reeling as the woman spoke,  _ ‘Is that not enough?’  _

Ava was ready to return those words, tell her yes, she is enough, but she couldn’t.

She could only watch in fear as Shannon began to fade from her vision, calling out her name, ‘Shannon’ doing nothing,  _ she was waking up. _

So, she woke up, in that bed, without her soulmate beside her  _ but she refused to cry.  _ The fact that her soulmate existed in some capacity was enough.

‘In this life and the next, we will love and love again,’ Ava breathed out, grounding her in what it meant to be a soulmate.

_ She would love Shannon in this life. She would find her. She was real, she was alive, she just needs to be found. _

She didn’t know where to start. Shannon hadn’t provided her details on where to find the people the halo bearer was supposed to protect,  _ so she stayed with JC and his crew, hoping she’d find answers on that path. _

It seemed fate was ready to intervene for it. They all get together to attend an event. A reveal of some revolutionary tech at a place called Arq Tech.

_ She was just there for fun.  _ She’d eat some of their expensive food, talk to some influential people maybe, and just explore it all with JC.

_ Why was nothing ever simple in her life? _

‘Hey, we’ve got the card, up for some exploring?’ JC cheering in excitement.

‘Absolutely,’ Ava grinned, she remembered Arq Tech technology like nothing else, wanting one of those automated chairs,  _ the ability to move,  _ not so long ago.

_ Now she had the halo to move, taken from Shannon. Taken from her soulmate, she hated how much she ached at the thought.  _

She blocked it out. That dream might have been the first and last time they will meet,  _ she should focus on this, on freedom, on movement, it didn’t matter.  _

_ No… Nothing mattered more than her, she knew it. _

She wandered the halls, _it was supposed to be fun._ She wasn’t expecting a huge, big… something, to leap out of a weird portal thing and throw itself at her.

_ The halo let out a light and a group of nuns? Nuns with… weapons?  _ Saved her. She didn’t run, she couldn’t run, this had to be the mission.

‘You’re not going to fight us?’ One of the girls spoke up.

’Depends, do you know something about the halo, and the,’ she paused,  _ god what was it called? _ ‘Halo bearer?’

‘It is our mission,’ the shortest girl confirmed, crossbow in hand.

‘Then, I want to go with you,’ Ava returned. This could be it, one step closer to finding her soulmate in this life.  _ She had to still be alive somewhere.  _

So, she followed them,  _ a group of nuns, a representation of the church who had never represented her,  _ for Shannon. For her soulmate, for the chance, the dream, to meet the one she was bound to love. 

Her first moments there, at the cat’s cradle, are filled with tension. They were still in mourning of Shannon,  _ she wanted to shout, hey! That’s my soulmate… I live in her place.  _

There’s very little love held,  _ it's all too raw.  _ Lilith trains her, but the look on her face makes her wish it was anyone else. 

‘So you are the one that the halo was given to,  _ you,’  _ Lilith grit out during their match, pacing laps around Ava, it was hard to keep track of the other woman.

Ava turned quickly to try and face Lilith, ‘I have it, I know, but I didn’t run, I came back here when  _ I knew.’  _

Lilith’s response came with a firm hit with her training staff that Ava couldn’t block, ‘I wouldn’t have run.’

‘I didn’t know what it was,  _ I was dead before I was given it,  _ in case you forgot that part,’ Ava huffed as she tried to raise her staff in time to block Lilith’s next attack.

‘Shannon was capable, we don’t need a replacement like you, there were better options.’

Ava took her time with her response, watching as Lilith’s movements grew more erratic, no  _ angered  _ at something, at her?

She had to ask that _ question that Lilith left out in the open,  _ ‘Is that replacement you?’

The hit she got in return, phasing through her this time, was proof enough of those feelings. Lilith was supposed to be the next in line.

_ Why would she want to be next in a world that meant Shannon was gone?  _

‘Were you just… waiting for the halo to become yours?  _ To no longer be Shannon’s?’ _

‘No,’ Lilith let out, ‘ _ no,’  _ the second one tinged with desperation.

‘I didn’t plan to take it from her either you know,’ Ava let out, dodging the blow of the staff Lilith sent her way in response.

‘You don’t even know who she is,’ Lilith spoke, dropping the staff to the ground, ‘I do, and, she should have held that power for longer than she did.’

‘I can’t  _ fix this,’  _ she threw back at Lilith,  _ she wanted to bring Shannon back, to bring her soulmate back.  _ But? She knew that if she spoke that word,  _ soulmate,  _ in relation to Shannon,  _ they wouldn’t believe her. _

She responded the only way she knew how to, ’I want to know her.’

Lilith sighed, running a hand through her hair, the habit coming loose during their fight, ‘Perhaps, ask Bea, she, despite appearances, was incredibly close to  _ Shannon.’  _

Ava could hear the way her voice faltered on the name,  _ Shannon.  _ She knew that all that was left was to seek answers elsewhere, to find her truth amongst those equally bound to the church.

It grows late into the day and it’s the smaller girl, Camila, who shows her to her room.  _ How could she expect the room they give her to also be hers. _

She knows it the moment she enters, the longing, the relief, the clarity, her soulmate has been here.  _ She struggles to contain the tears. Of Joy? Of Sadness? She isn’t sure. _

‘So this is your room, we’ve all got similar rooms you know, but this was really the only one spare,’ Camila hummed.

’Sorry we haven’t really had time to- I mean we couldn’t-’ she gestured around the room. Ava understood,  _ they couldn’t throw all of this away. _

‘It’s fine, I uh, the bed is fine for me.’

Camila only gave a nod,  _ aching, so much aching left in Shannon’s wake, her soulmate was someone extraordinary that much she was certain about. _

‘Well then, I’ll leave you with your sleep,’ Camila let out, her voice tinged with awkwardness. 

Ava takes her time and looks around the room.  _ She wasn’t expecting every inch to be a reminder, a feeling of her. _

Drawings cover the walls, wraith demons, the cat’s cradle and there, on her desk,  _ a picture of her. _

Ava holds that picture for maybe a little too long but when given the chance to see her soulmate real, existing and more than anything? Alive? She couldn’t look away.

She hops into bed shortly after, the picture seated on the desk in a way that lets her glance over to see the other woman. 

She was expecting a quiet sleep, empty and without the one she needed the most.  _ She was glad to be proven wrong. _

She opens her eyes to a room she hadn’t seen before, knows it’s a dream, ‘Where are we?’

It’s Shannon, with a hand placed upon Ava’s shoulder that responds, ‘I know this place, strangely, a small village, one of my last missions as the halo bearer, though how was I to know that?’

Shannon wrapped an arm around Ava’s shoulder as she continued their journey, leading Ava through the church they stood in, ‘Many fell, lost faith in the church, in their beliefs, in a world that allowed harm to befall them in spite of the desperation one would have at losing their soulmate to such a fight.’

Ava felt herself be turned to look at the woman directly as she continued, ‘I knew my mission but here, at this moment, I have never felt more wanting for  _ you.’  _

‘The yearning for you was strongest here I think, perhaps that’s why this night has led us here.’

Ava responded by pulling the women into her arms, feeling her warmth, her breath, her humanity, ‘There is no way that you, who I feel so naturally here, are gone.’

‘I don’t walk the waking world with you Ava,  _ only these dreams,’  _ Shannon let out, her voice faltering with those words,  _ Ava knew she didn’t believe them. _

‘You just have to let me find you,’ Ava begged, ‘Let me find you in the real world, I know you’re there, somewhere.’

‘I don’t- I’m not-,’ Shannon cried as she continued, ‘I- For some many weeks? Months? I was gone, and somehow, I’m here but that doesn’t mean  _ I’m here.’ _

Ava knew their emotions had reached their peak, could feel herself waking up, felt her hands fall through Shannon’s own, her corporeality fading, ‘Find me, Shannon,  _ find me.’ _

She could only assume Shannon nodded at those words, a head tilt as the darkness took her out of view.

She woke that morning not with clarity but with purpose, a need to find her, a need to be found, she could almost feel the way her soul was quaking after each interaction,  _ it wouldn’t do this if that was merely a dream. _

_ So she seeks Beatrice out, following Lilith’s words. _

They spar first, for hours, Beatrice testing out Ava’s abilities with the halo, pushing her limits, looking for something, possibly a similarity between her and Shannon.

When the sparring round was finished both were exhausted and Ava took it as a chance to find the answers she had been seeking since she arrived.

‘Beatrice, can I ask you something?’

Beatrice turned to her and offered a soft smile, ‘I think after sparring for so long, you can call me Bea and ask away.’

‘I mean uh- you don’t have to answer, but I was just wondering… Do you have a soulmate or not? Have you met them?’

Beatrice tilted her head up and looked at the ceiling, resting herself on the palms of her hands, ‘I haven’t met  _ her  _ yet, no.’

‘Her? Have you met her before?’

Beatrice hummed, ‘there is a longing there, a want, but more than anything, a familiarity in it. So yes, I believe we’ve met before.’

‘A woman?’

‘It’s always a woman Ava, in every life, one small thing that never changes, I thrive in its clarity.’

Ava could feel the other girl’s gaze on her as she searched deeper, ‘What about you Ava? Met them yet? First life or losing count?’

‘The first,’ Ava admitted, ‘I think I met her but not really, well yes really, but if I said how we met… I don’t know if anyone would believe me.’

‘Oh? Surprise me,’ Beatrice returned, her smile open, offering her someone who would listen.

‘In a dream.’

Beatrice’s face scrunched up for a moment, her brow furrowing in thought, ‘Some meet that way you know,’ a pause, ‘It’s like- you’ve taken too long a fate decides to intervene, I’d listen to those dreams and find her in reality.’

Ava pulled her knees to her chest struggling with her next words. ‘She told me she was  _ gone,  _ not alive, you know, just-,’ she couldn’t continue.

Beatrice just let out a small laugh in response, a hand resting on Ava’s own, ‘Are our soulmates ever truly gone? We love and love again, perhaps you’ll both be returned to each other in this life, a unique and almost divine intervention if it does occur.’

‘Do you think we could find each other?’ Ava let out, her voice quiet.

‘Believing in meeting your soulmate again will always open you up to seemingly impossible things Ava, I believe in the love you two are bound to share.’

Ava smiled,  _ she wasn’t expecting such open support.  _ A chance to love.  _ She couldn’t wait to find her in this life. _

_ When she slept that night she had no dreams. Nor the night after, or the ones for weeks to come. _

In that time of yearning, she grew in her abilities, becoming a capable halo bearer.  _ So they assigned her to her first mission. _

She took the lead, guiding them all, pointing out the locations of each wraith demon, letting her halo flare at the larger ones and wished that she could finally see her love, her future once more.

She gets that opportunity when a tarask enters the fight.  _ There wasn’t supposed to be anything truly dangerous.  _ She finds herself weakened, falling to the ground, a hand lifts her up,  _ it’s Shannon’s. _

‘Are you real or am I falling too far?’ Ava let out, her voice heavy with each breath she took.

‘I don’t know, but you need to leave,’ Shannon spoke, pulling Ava off the ground and slinging one of her arms across her shoulder. 

‘We leave together,’ Ava grits out.

‘Yes.’

Shannon proceeds to drag Ava away from the scene and into a waiting car. She was terrified that Shannon wasn’t really here but the looks on the faces of each of the girls, Lilith, Mary, Bea and Camila told her otherwise.

‘Shannon?’ Mary let out incredulously, ‘You were gone we saw you, the halo, how?’

‘Maybe,’ Shannon laughed, ‘I was sent back just to save my blundering soulmate and your halo bearer.’

‘You need a medical checkup then,’ Lilith added, Ava noticing the way she eyed Shannon off,  _ the clearest look of relief on her face. _

‘Ava needs it more,’ Shannon huffed out.

‘You both need it, stop being so stubborn, one thing didn’t change with you,’ Mary sighed.

‘Fine, both of us,  _ together.’ _

The other girls only nodded.  _ It was a long drive filled with glances, Ava could see the question in their eyes, at Shannon being here, at the closeness the two quickly shared. _

Their trip to the nurse was quick, Shannon carrying Ava in her arms the entire way from the moment they exited the car.  _ Ava couldn’t be more grateful at the closeness she got to her soulmate from it. _

Their checkup had everyone on edge.  _ Shannon had a halo. Ava had a halo. They had somehow both become… halo bearers. _

‘What do you mean I have a halo?’ Shannon huffed out in frustration, ‘I lost it when I was-‘ 

‘Regardless, Ava has it now, not me.’

The nurse sighed, ‘Perhaps there is more than one, I can’t claim to understand the complexities of the halo nor its ties to you both as soulmates.’

‘You’re really soulmates? I know you said it in the car but I didn’t want to assume,’ Mary lets out, Ava knew they hadn’t become exceedingly close since she joined but they respected one another.

Shannon laughed, ‘I’ve waited so long and here she is, Mary.’

‘I’m so glad Shannon, you too Ava, a good match, you balance each other, I know you both well enough to see that,’ Mary spoke with a smile, offering a hand on each of their shoulders.

‘A world with two halo bearers,’ Lilith let out, running a hand along the bench, looking painfully lost in her thoughts.

It was Shannon who responded for the both of them, Ava more lost than ever, ‘It may just be what we need to bring an end to this all.’

‘To it all? What are we missing Shannon?’ Mary spoke.

It was with that Shannon gave them the truth, the reason she and only she found herself embedded with divinium that night. Vincent,  _ demons, and something by the name of Adriel’s bones. _

So they formed a plan, a need to fight one last fight, one last mission to bring an end to it all, to create a world where soulmates didn’t have to be separated for the purpose of some holy battle.

It started with training.

Ava found herself back on the sparring mat with Lilith though with far less malice. She had learnt a few moves as a halo bearer and joked around on the mat.

She could see Lilith roll her eyes, growing more exasperated the longer their dance went on.

It was at the point that Ava had yet again phased through Lilith’s training staff that Shannon entered the room.

‘Shannon, thank god, you take over and train the little bearer.’

‘Little?’ Ava huffed out.

‘You are small,’ Shannon grinned, taking the staff from Lilith’s hands, watching the other woman leave the room, ‘After so long, we’re finally alone.’

’For training?’ Ava responded.

‘Oh, yes, the training I suppose,’ Shannon laughed, ‘Though, I’m rather partial to enjoying my soulmate’s company for a little while instead.’

‘Well, I did come here to train,’ Ava returned with a playful whack of her staff against Shannon.

Shannon let out a loud laugh in response and they began their chase around the room.

‘Get back here,’ Shannon laughed.

‘Small, yes, but I’m definitely not slow,’ Ava returned, dancing away every time Shannon got even the slightest bit closer.

_ She forgot that Shannon had held the halo for a time before her. _

With a phase, Shannon drew close and caught Ava in her arms, ‘Not so fast anymore.’

‘Using your halo powers isn’t fair,’ Ava huffed in the other girl’s arms.

‘Isn’t that the whole part of training? To use these powers?’ 

Ava sighed and tried to wiggle out of her arms. It was pointless, Shannon refused to let go. So she turned in them to face the woman.

‘Now what?’

Shannon hummed, ‘Would you allow me to  _ kiss you?’ _

‘Kiss me?’

‘Yes, I’ve been thinking about it, about you and if there’s anything clear in my mind is that I want to be close to you, and in that closeness, bring you into my embrace, lips to lips, a reminder of our bond,’ Shannon spoke, her voice needy, her face inches away.

‘Then kiss me,’ Ava responded desperately.

_ There was a certain completion that came from the other woman’s lips against her own.  _ Each caress was soft, longing, both of them taking their time to learn each other.

It was Shannon that pulled back, her head still tilted down from meeting Ava’s lips, ‘That was exactly what I’ve been searching for in this life,  _ you.’  _

Ava knew her face was flushed, returning with a cracking voice, ‘ _ I’m glad it’s you.’ _

Shannon pressed their foreheads together and pulled Ava that much closer in her arms, chest to chest, they were pressed together and it had never felt more natural.

That night, they slept in the same bed, in Shannon’s room, In Ava’s room, it had melded together into  _ their room, the halo bearer’s room,  _ seemingly made for their joint existence.

Ava slept in Shannon’s arms and with each breath from the other woman found her worries eased,  _ she was her clarity. _

It was weeks later that they all found themselves facing the Vatican, the church and the catacombs that ran beneath it all on their mission for Adriel’s bones.

Shannon stood beside Ava at the wall that separated them from Adriel’s bones.

Ava grabbed Shannon's hand tightly in one of her own as they spoke the words together before their first steps into the wall, ‘In this life and the next, we will love and love again.’

It wasn't easy despite Shannon’s closeness, Ava feeling herself grow heavy with each step. It was only the feeling of Shannon’s presence beside her, the warmth of her hand in spite of the coldness of the wall that helped her continue.

They made it to the other side soon enough.

‘I don’t see any bones,’ Shannon spoke inquisitively, running her eyes around the room and pulling Ava close against her side as she grew worried.

’Stay by me Ava, I don’t trust this situation.’

Ava could only nod stiffly, wrapping an arm tightly around one of Shannon’s own.

That’s when they saw not the bones, but a man.

‘Who the hell are you?’ Ava shouted out, separating herself from Shannon to stand before the man.

The man just laughed, those his face looked tight, worried, ‘Halo bearer,  _ two, I wasn’t expecting two,  _ but nonetheless, I am Adriel, I’m certain you’ve heard of me in many of your tales of the church.’

Shannon took a step in front of Ava and continued the conversation, ‘I was under the impression that we were to expect the bones of the man, not the man himself.’

Adriel just let out a laugh, ‘Perhaps, like the two of you, fate decided my life was not done,  _ soulmates, halo bearers, how strange.’ _

‘You want to see the strangeness of my fist?’ Ava yelled out, she wasn’t going to just let Shannon take all of this man’s lies.

‘Ava,’ Shannon responded, though a smile was on her face, ‘Let’s not be too brash.’

‘He’s lying, I can tell Shan,’ Ava returned.

‘Are you?’ Shannon spoke to him.

_ The answer came from the anger that grew on his face and an explosion from the other side of the wall, they’d been in there too long, their friends likely growing worried. _

The devil. He was the devil. It was a rough fight in that courtyard, fists flying, weapons drawn.  _ Despite the masses he controlled? He had not prepared for the joint power of two halo bearers. _

Their souls were aligned, their powers unified,  _ to love and love again,  _ for themselves and for all those who were trapped under Adriel’s influence, they fought.

_ There wasn’t a clear victory, Adriel fading from view once the crowd cleared, perhaps he was pulled back, returned to a world that supported him. _

But Shannon and Ava left that scene hand in hand, the souls unified, their halo’s flaring bright, divine intervention perhaps. 

All that mattered was that by chance, they had been given the gift of loving in this life.

**Author's Note:**

> Just ship all the ships at this point. Halosquared, Shannon and Ava. A little exploration of their potential through this AU.


End file.
